


A Brief Introduction

by KR Grim (KR_Grim)



Series: Onward From 1978 [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: 70s AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-20
Updated: 2011-03-20
Packaged: 2017-10-17 04:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/172788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KR_Grim/pseuds/KR%20Grim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meet the cast as the author reimagines them in this AU. Because clearly he's not doing enough already. -_-</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brief Introduction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [70STUCK](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/2761) by Pancakestein. 



Hi, I’m John Egbert, and I’d like to introduce a few of you to this author’s interpretation of this AU. Starting with a few basics.

My name is John William Egbert. I’m fairly athletic (blame it on little league) and I’m a massive nerd. Seriously, I go to every movie ever, I grew up on Star Trek and The Silmarillion, and before I started DMing D&D games I played Chainmail. I’m the one who owns the miniatures we use to play our games. My dad’s name is Leonard, which is completely awesome and makes me wish my last name were McCoy. Why? So I could be Bones’s son, duh. Anyway, I’m currently living with two of my friends, and I’ve just turned twenty-one this past April 13th.

This is my best bro Dave J. Strider, also 21. He’s from Texas, even though he tries to hide his accent. It doesn’t work too well. He likes to style himself as a “ladies’ man” even though the only “lady” whose attention he manages to attract is his half-sister’s, and not even in a romantic sense. He’s a guitarist and an audiophile and hell if I know what else. His bro’s had custody of him since his mom was… um… the term Dave likes to use is “put away indefinitely”. He’s a pretty cool dude, even if he is all “Imitate the Duke to get Ladies” (I gotta admit, the Duke is pretty cool). Also, he listens to the Eagles NON. STOP. It drives Rose crazy.

That’s my cousin, Jade Q. Harley. I’m kind of afraid to ask what the Q stands for. Her mother died when she was a baby, so she was kinda raised partly by her grandpa! Well, until he died when she was six, and then she got sent to live with us because her grandpa was Nanna’s brother and so that makes Dad and me her only living relatives. She’s kinda like a goofy hippie sister without all the pot. And she _does_ listen to stuff from when we were little kids, so I guess the comparison kinda makes sense? Well, except that she’s a crack shot with a rifle and a total peacenik at the same time. Who knows with her. She’s twenty-one, turns twenty-two this year. Why couldn’t I have a little sister-cousin? GAH I HATE BEING THE YOUNGER BROTHER IN THIS RELATIONSHIP.

And here we have Rose. AKA the most beautiful Punk in the world. She’s into finding bands that’re around in Britain but not in the US, and I sometimes wonder where she gets all the money to import all those albums. That’s about when I remember that her mom is super-rich off inheritance and shit like that. I like to think that all her occult stuff isn’t something she’s serious about, and most of the time I’m right. She’s heavy into psychology and that, and I think she’s trying to psychoanalyze Dave’s childhood or whatever the term is. She also tries to psychoanalyze me, but I don’t think it’s working. She’s best friends with Rezi’s roommate Kan, and the two of them share an interest in dark movies and loud music.

Terezi Pyrope, Dave’s ex and best friend, transferred to his high school from the Alternia Institute, a top-tier school that almost exclusively accepts troll students. I’m still not sure why she did that, but I think she just wanted to meet her pen-pal in person. She’s blind, but her mom (or whatever the troll analogue is, I didn’t pay too much attention in nonhuman cultures class) taught her how to smell colors. I was skeptical at first, but she proved it with a clothespin and several swatches of colored paper. Also with medical reports that certified her as being blind. She’s the one who introduced me to the rest of the D&D group back in ‘75 (so many girls! it was like I’d died and went to heaven), and made me be the Dungeon Master of the group she was getting together because, in her words, “I don’t have the creativity for it.” She plays clerics mostly, especially if she can wing a Cleric of St. Cuthbert. She’s in the pre-law track, probably going to wind up being a trial lawyer. I imagine she’ll try and aim for the prosecution.

Karkat Vantas, Rezi’s current boyfriend, has the smallest horns of any troll I’ve ever met. I mean, seriously, I swear one of the reasons he acts so angry all the time is because he’s compensating. However that works. He likes to think of himself as the ultimate ladies’ man love-em-and-leave-em super-spy. Before he and Rezi began hitting on (and hitting) each other, he was hitting on me, which was a little uncomfortable. I mean, I’m not gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with gay. But anyway. KK’s into the spy movie scene, and he’s got a replica of the golden gun and a 007 shirt and I think he has a Sean Connery keychain. As well as a Roger Moore bottle opener. Guy is straight up Bond Obsessed. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Him and me sometimes hang out together; we’re good buds even if he thinks I play “games for girls”.

Kanaya Maryam, one of Rezi’s roommates and Rose’s best friend, is into the weirdest sort of music I’ve ever heard. Not that it’s bad, it kinda reminds me of Purple Haze (which Jade once played for like eight hours non-stop ugh) only more… rough. She and Rose bonded over their taste in underappreciated British music and then over Kan’s girlcrush on Rose because, seriously? Super lesbian hard rock chick (OK, she calls it “metal”, but I don’t really get that, and hard rock is easier to remember). She’s apparently the girlfriend of Rezi’s mysterious third roommate, Vriska, who I still need to be introduced to.

Gamzee Makara is the most insane guy I’ve ever met, and I knew a few people back in high school that’d make you go “Holy shit lock that guy in an asylum.” He drops acid on a regular basis, and before he dropped out of school for, well, guess, he was a chemistry major. He’s also a baking aficionado, although I’ve never tried most of his stuff because his favorite ingredient is weed. Anyway, he lives with Eridan (ugh, Eridan, guh) in an apartment over on Sharpsburg Drive. Most of the time he’s an all right guy, kinda relaxed, kinda spaced, but when he’s coming down from a high he goes into a sort of outright dangerous mode.

Tavros Nitram is sort of a pacifist in a way. Troll society, from what I understand, has usually had a sort of relaxed attitude towards killing, and even in integrated societies it’s usual to see the trolls as some really violent dudes. Tavros isn’t, so much. By troll standards he’s a pansy, by human standards… OK, by human standards he’s still squeamish and queasy and all that, but at least he isn’t as big a pansy as he is in troll society. He grew up in an integrated neighborhood, which meant that he wasn’t killed after the car accident took his legs. He’s always been an outdoorsy type, and the wheelchair’s kinda hurt that, but he tries his best. He’s also this big animal lover… but he’s no vegetarian.

Aradia Megido is Dave’s current squeeze and a former member of the gaming group. Radia isn’t exactly the coolest girl in the world, but she can play guitar and I guess that gives Dave a boner or something. I’m not sure. She’s also really affectionate, a great roleplayer, and interested in exploring pretty much everything. She says the best day of her life was July 20, 1969. This actually dovetails pretty well with the other thing her and me talk about a lot, Star Trek. True, it doesn’t hold a candle to Lucas’s supreme vision (Star Wars), but it was still a great show and I loved watching it as a kid. And so did Radia. I think Dave thinks hearing us chat about it is adorkable, even though he’d never admit it. I will say this, though: Radia’s long hair? If she weren’t both my good friend and dating my best bro, and I weren’t kinda crazy for Rose, I’d probably do her like right then and there. That hair.

Sollux Captor is the master of the computers, as well as Radia’s ex-boyfriend. Right now he’s with Fef, though it’s arguable if he’s really over Radia. My money’s on no. Anyway, Sollux knows everything about every code ever. He’s even managed to crack the code in the Atari, and he’s made his own games for it. And the games he makes are actually pretty awesome. I know mostly because whenever I visit KK, we wind up spending like five hours or something on Sollux’s Atari. Not that he seems to mind that much; he’s generally sitting at the living room desk working on something on the computer. Still, even if he is a lispy taciturn bastard, he’s a pretty cool dude.

Nepeta Leijon is my best friend, hands down. She and me go way back, since she’s been my penpal for-fucking-ever. Seriously, I began exchanging letters with her when I was _eleven_. And since she’s about a month and a half younger than me, she gets to be my surrogate younger sister. So I still get to kind of be a big brother in a way. Nep’s always been a really creative person, so when D &D came out I introduced her to it. It was acting, in a way, and she loved acting. Still does, she’s going to be in a Summer Shakespeare performance of The Tempest. She introduced me to Rezi, Radia, and the rest of the trolls when we finally met. Well, except for Eridan and this “Vriska” chick.

Feferi Peixes is… Well, for starters, she’s a sea-dweller, and for seconds, she’s dating Sollux, so she’s already pretty weird and pretty resilient (seriously, if Rose doubted herself half as much as Sollux does, I think I’d have a rage aneurysm). She’s also a good friend of Nep and Radia, and the three of them had some great times at the Alternia Institute, to hear her go on about it. She spends a lot of time with Jade, and I think she flirts with her… not that Jade notices. Fef’s also the Captain of the girl’s Swim Team, and she’s taken either win or place in every tournament she’s competed in. This is helped by the fact that she simply loves swimming and does it every day (again, see Sea Dweller). She’s barely missed the qualifying time for the US Olympic team, but I have a feeling that in 1980 she’ll be a shoe-in for the Gold.

Equius Zahhak is a good friend of Nep’s. They’ve known each other since they were kids, and Nep’s always kept him on the straight and narrow. He’s freakishly strong, and whenever he gets upset or confused, he just begins _pouring_ sweat. He’s also really good with electronics, and even the delicate ones he can get pretty well done. According to Nep, he’s had a crush on Radia since pretty much _forever_. Not that there’s anything wrong about that, it’s actually pretty understandable given her long hair and her upbeat attitude. He’s also a wrestler, a linebacker, and I think I’ve seen him trying to be a bodybuilder. I went to his place once, his room has posters of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, and this Franco Columbu guy… as well as some extremely muscular women who look kinda gross. In my opinion, at least.

Eridan Ampora is Fef’s friend, somehow. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that he’s got a thing for her (I think Fef’s just ignoring it) and is trying to get her to think he’s cool. Here we encounter a few problems. Mostly the fact that Eridan loves disco. Also the fact that he’s a pretty massive poser. If he wants you to like him, he’ll pretend to like pretty much anything. Rezi even proved it to me when we were introduced, and… yeah, Eridan hasn’t really liked me since. He lives with Gamzee, since he’s about the only one who actually can fight back if Gamzee gets violent when he’s crashing. Doesn’t stop him from being a massive tool, though.

Vriska Serket is the last troll. She’s Rezi’s friend and apparently Kan’s girlfriend. I, uh, don’t really know her, so I’ll let Rezi take over.

Hi, Terezi here. Vriska is… well, she used to have a crush on Tavros for a really long time, although she was also a bit of a douchebag to him. I kept telling her “No, you’re acting like it’s a black crush”, but she never listened. She loves writing, but she’s not very good at it, mostly because there’s always one character that’s _obviously_ her and who’s _obviously_ the best at everything ever. It doesn’t work in fiction, but it’ll work OK for being a DM, where you’re supposed to do all that weird stuff. She’s also into rock music, especially Queen. In our apartment, basically one of two things is always playing. It’s either Kanaya’s metal or Vriska’s Queen. OK, time to hand control back to John. There’s some other stuff he needs to cover. Unlike most of us, Vriska’s not even _twenty_ yet. She’s over a year younger than most of us.

Thanks, Rezi. Anyway, moving on, there are a few locations here in the city of Waldfluss, Wisconsin that need to be touched on before we can call it a day. The first is 1913 West Wilson Boulevard. Me, Dave, Rose, and Jade all live here. It’s a two-story white house with a pretty big yard for the middle of the city. It’s on the corner of Wilson and Taft, and it’s got a great big oak in the front yard. There are three bedrooms; me and Rose share one, and the other two belong to Dave and Jade. I do most of the cooking, thanks to Dad bringing me up as a little cook.

The next place is 1066 Harold Street, at the Riverview Apartment Complex. Apartment 244 is where Rezi, Kan, and Vriska live. It’s a two-room apartment with a fairly good view of the river. They’ve got a kitchen, but I haven’t seen either Rezi or Kan really use it; I’m guessing that Vriska’s the one who puts it to most use. It’s kept pretty clean, from what I can tell from when I’ve been there. That’s usually Kan’s doing; she’s actually pretty neat-freaky. She and Vriska share a room, and Rezi sleeps in the other one. Sometimes with KK.

Then there’s 1861 Sumter Road, the Grant Hill Apartment Complex. KK, Sollux, and Tavros share Apartment 185, a first floor place. They get along for the most part, and it’s a pretty cool place. Sollux has his Atari hooked up to the TV, and even if they don’t have a Betamax or a VHS, they’ve got enough cool stuff there to make it kind of a moot point. Unlike Rezi’s apartment, theirs is three bedrooms. KK’s bedroom is sometimes double occupancy (heh heh).

After that we come to 768 Aachen Avenue, which is where Radia, Nep, Fef, and Equius live. It’s bigger than our place, a four bedroom two story house in the middle of the residential neighborhood. It’s kinda unusual for trolls to be living right in the middle of a mostly-human area, but then again the humans in Waldfluss are a bit different from most. Which, in my opinion, makes it all the more awesome. They’ve got a decent-sized front yard and a huge back yard with a bonfire pit. Equius also has his electronics lab in the basement (yeah, they’re lucky enough to have a basement too) and Aradia’s got a telescope on her balcony. They’ve got two maple trees in the front yard.

Finishing off the residences is Gamzee and Eridan’s three-bedroom apartment at 917 Sharpsburg Drive, at the Blue Lagoon Apartment Complex. It’s owned by a little old dude who doesn’t speak much English. Apartment 462, up on the fourth floor, is a sight to behold. Eridan is somehow the guy who keeps it clean, probably because he keeps hoping he’ll wind up bringing home a girl. Or a guy, I don’t think he’s too picky. Like most of the apartments there, it’s pretty cool. Sweet three-bedroom deal, although I think the third bedroom is Gamzee’s chemical lab. It’d make sense. I’m still wondering how they manage to avoid getting the cops called on them, although I’ve heard Eridan speak the same language as the old guy who owns the place.

Almost all of us go to school at Nelson University, a private college with a really strong focus on pre-professional tracks, like pre-law and pre-med. They’ve also got a really good theater program, and their physics department is one of the top ten in the nation. The education program’s also pretty boss, and they’ve got a Division II sports program. The school’s team is the Nelson University Falcons, and we’ve got a great team since Equius joined the lineup. The school’s colors are white and gold, and it was the first troll-human integrated university, integrating all the way back in 1885. The dean of students is a no-nonsense black woman named Dr. Beatrice Queen. If it weren’t for the fact that her eyes have a simultaneously bored and peeved look, she’d be pretty good-looking, but as it stands, she’s just scary. Her sharp tone, softened only slightly by a Louisiana accent, doesn’t help matters any, and it kinda makes things worse. The chancellor’s name is Dr. Bill K. Regal. He’s called Dr. K and he’s seen a lot of war. Pray you don’t ever have to meet him. It is not a fun experience.

Then finally there’s 431 Delia Way, an out-of-the-way little game store that us gamers frequent called Short Castle. It’s run by a guy named Warren King, who we just generally call King. He’s a big guy, kind of imposing when you first meet him, but then he cracks a few jokes and helps you out with what you’re looking for and you realize he’s just this cool old guy who likes helping people. I keep telling him he should grow a beard, but I don’t think he likes that suggestion very much — even though he’s bald and kinda old, and a bald old guy should _totally_ have a beard of awesome. He usually has the radio on, and it’s usually playing some weird jazz type stuff, but once you get past that it’s a cool place. King’s wife, Wynter Quentin, sometimes shows up to help run things. She’s not really a gamer, but she loves the miniatures and she’s always painting or setting them up or stuff like that.

Huh? You want a map? Uh… maybe later. I will say this, though: It’s a quick walk from any one of our places to any of the others or to the university. Short Castle is also pretty close to where we are, and that’s real good because Short Castle doesn’t have much parking.


End file.
